Feeling lost following Google’s latest algorithm shift? March 2024 Google Core Update may have left many SEO strategies uncertain, but there’s an effective path forward; this 5-step guide provides everything you need to know in the wake of March updates to regain valuable organic traffic.

Ditch the Drama and Welcome the Fix: Your Guide to Google’s March Update

While some blogs are depicting an SEO doomsday scenario after Google released its March 2024 Core Update, we provide another viewpoint.

Traffic fluctuations happen, but instead of dwelling on potential penalties (which take an extended period to recover from), let’s focus on finding solutions. This five-step guide will equip you with the knowledge to identify problems and get your website back on track.

What are Google’s March 2024 Core Updates?

Google regularly tweaks its search engine to ensure users get the relevant results for their queries. When these tweaks are more significant, they are called Core Updates by Google. This year’s March 2024 update was big in Google’s algorithm.

Consider it as Google’s effort to spring-clean its search engine: This update focused on eliminating low-quality content while prioritizing websites offering genuine, beneficial, and informative material.

There’s more! March 2024 was marked by two massive Google updates—a core update and a separate spam update—both focused on combating unhelpful content and manipulative practices, creating a major shift in the SEO landscape. So how do they both differ in function and scope?

Delinking Google Core update from Spam update

Although Google has previously released updates quickly, their March 5, 2024, rollouts took a lot of work for website owners. They needed help to differentiate the impact of Core Update from Spam Update, which was simultaneously released. Here’s a breakdown of the differences between both updates.

Google’s Spam vs. Google’s Core Update

While the spam update is valuable in weeding out manipulative websites, Google core update is the most significant. It is the force that shapes the future of SEO by prioritizing genuine user experience and high-quality content. 

Google Core Update, according to Google

Based on Google’s blog post, Google Algorithm Update in March 2024 aims to improve search results by prioritizing content that users find truly helpful. “Helpful” is the keyword here. 

While Google hasn’t definitively described helpful, based on various resources and announcements, Helpful content means the content that addresses the user’s search intent. 

Other qualities of helpful content are authoritativeness, completeness, readability, credibility, and insight. In addition, Google also reiterated its focus on de-ranking clickbait content: content focused solely on attracting clicks.

Guide to Google’s March 2024 Core Update Recovery

Are you facing a traffic dip after the Google 2024 Core Update? Has your website just suffered a hit by Google’s latest update? Don’t panic—you are not alone! Recovery is possible and should begin by self-analyzing your website. Try to determine the root cause. Your website may have inadvertently violated Google’s content policies, including low-quality, unhelpful content publishing, manipulative backlink practices, or black-hat SEO tactics.

Essentially, Google might see a trust gap between your website and its users. You now have to rebuild that trust.

Here’s what you might be facing:

Algorithmic Deindexing: Due to quality concerns, Google’s algorithms may have removed your website from search results. This isn’t a manual penalty but a signal to improve your content.

While less common, you might also encounter:

Manual Penalty: This is a deliberate action from Google, usually accompanied by a notification in the Search Console’s “Manual Actions” tab. It highlights specific issues requiring your attention.

The good news?

Recovery is possible for both scenarios. Here’s a 5-step plan, chalked out by our team of proficient and seasoned SEO experts in Dubai, to get you back on track:

• Cleanse up your Content
• Dispose of expired domains
• Discontinue Black-hat SEO
• Get rid of spammy backlinks
• Build expertise and credibility

Cleanse Up Your Content

Analyze all your website content. Weed out unhelpful, thin, and sparse blog posts. Or consider grouping similar ones into exhaustive and powerhouse articles. This is the first and foremost step.

Think of your website content as a library. Google wants it to be a well-stocked source of information, not a dusty shelf of pamphlets. 

Google prefers quality over quantity. It wants to see long, well-researched, and informative articles that address users’ queries head-on.

Imagine explaining complex topics to a curious friend; that’s the kind of depth and clarity Google rewards.

Nowadays, a big part of unhelpful content is AI. It is a common culprit in plain sight. Since people automate their entire content creation process, mass-producing and publishing hundreds of articles in a short time is highly criticized. 

So avoid these practices and cleanse up such stuff if you want Google to hold you in good esteem again. 

Dispose of expired domains

If you use an expired domain to harness its ranking power to promote your website, discontinue it. 

Imagine this: if a government or education website suddenly started selling second hand furniture, would that not cause some level of disorientation for you?

Google does not hold this age-old practice in good stead anymore, and its March 2024 update is clear about it:-

“Expired domains that are purchased and repurposed with the intention of boosting the search ranking of low-quality content are now considered spam.” 

Notice Google mentioned low-quality content there. You’re probably okay with using an expired domain to avoid the Google sandbox period (that initial waiting game for new websites) and create high-quality, relevant content.

But still, it would be wiser to avoid treading these waters altogether. Remember that Google wants websites that users trust and enjoy visiting. So, instead of turning to expired domains as a shortcut SEO strategy, focus on creating solid sites with engaging content that attracts visitors naturally.

Discontinue Black-Hat SEO

Black-hat SEO tactics might have worked in the past, but Google’s algorithms have got way too evolved. Google Algorithm Update 2024 has marked them disfavorably and penalizes it as spam. Here is why Google frowns upon these techniques:-

Cloaking: Imagine acting friendly toward your boss, then bashing them behind their back. That’s basically cloaking – showing search engines different content than you show users. It’s a recipe for distrust and puts your website at risk.

Sneaky Redirects: Ever click on a link promising a dream vacation, only to end up on a website selling printer ink? That’s a sneaky redirect. Google wants search results to be reliable, and these tactics undermine that trust.

Parasite SEO: Parasiting SEO is a shadowy practice in which a parasite website exploits the name of an established host site to gain attention for itself. Google can now label such practices as spam and remove practitioners from search results altogether.

The good news? Google rewards websites that play by the rules. So don’t try to outsmart Google and disengage yourself from shadowy Black-hat SEO practices.

Get Rid of Spammy Backlinks 

Unnatural backlinks are irrelevant, low-quality websites linking back to your website. If you have acquired plenty of unnatural backlinks to your website, disavow them as soon as possible. 

These links can also come from link farms, groups of websites created solely for link building. Google can now consider it a spammy practice and downgrade your website ranking if you have acquired plenty of those.

While Google hasn’t explicitly labeled this a “link spam update,” cleaning up your backlink profile is still crucial. These spammy links can dilute your website’s credibility and ranking.

Here are the steps to disassociate from them:

1. Go to your Google Search Console (GSC) and find the “Links” report. This section shows you all the websites linking back to yours.
2. Examine the “Top linking sites” tab. Here, you can identify websites with low authority or irrelevant content. These are prime suspects for disavowal.
3. Please review each entry in this list carefully. Not all links from low-authority sites are bad. Use your judgment and common sense to identify undesirable ones.
4. Once you have finalized a list of links to disassociate from, submit it through GSC. You have told Google to ignore those backlinks when evaluating your website’s ranking.

Bonus Tip: If you’ve ever sold links from your website to others (a practice that’s generally discouraged), you can either remove those links or add a “rel=nofollow” attribute. By doing so you are telling search engines not to follow those links.

By cleaning up your backlink profile, you’re sending a clear message to Google – you value quality connections and want your website to be judged based on its merits.

Build Expertise and Credibility 

Content is still king, but there is too much online now. To maintain its ascendancy in the online search world, Google goes out on a limb to suggest the best answers available. 

To do this, it checks your expertise as a content creator in the field you are talking about to rank your content. You want it to rank your content higher. 

Building expertise and gaining credibility in Google’s eyes is the way to go. Thankfully, this is entirely do-able:-

• Work with your industry experts or academics. Co-create content that establishes your website as an authority on a topic. Author bios with credentials and links to relevant work further enhance credibility.
• As often as possible, back your content with data and statistics from reliable sources. Quote research to show your expertise and provide verifiable information. These practices will build trust between users and Google.
• Instead of buying backlinks, create quality content that naturally acquires backlinks from established websites. Guest blog on relevant websites to increase your authority.

Final Words

We are certain, that this informational post will guide you in navigating Google’s March 2024 Core Update successfully. By understanding the intricacies of these changes/updates and strategically adjusting your SEO strategy, you can turn these hurdles into opportunities for growth and ingenuity.

Still confused, how you can recover your website after the Core Update completely rolls out?

Don’t worry, Aun Digital – The Leading SEO Agency in Dubai is equipped with cutting-edge tools, and technologies, and follows the best practices in line with Google’s algorithmic changes to help your website consistently rank at the top in the SERPs without disruptions.  

FAQs

What is the Google Core Update for March 2024?

It is a significant algorithm update in Google Search where it demotes unhelpful content and brings informative websites up the SERP.

What is Google Spam Update?

A separate update from Google rolled out concurrently that tackles issues of expired domain abuse and user-created spam.

My website just got hit, what could be the reason?

In the wake of recent Google algorithm updates, it could be due to thin content, expired domain abuse, mass-publishing articles through AI, or black-hat SEO tactics.

Can my website recover from Google’s March 2024 Core Update? 

Yes, your website can easily recover from Google’s March 2024 core update by focusing on high-quality content, prioritizing user experience, and following ethical SEO practices. your website can pass through the Google Update.